Greetings, everyone!
I've been wanting to do a regear (or more accurately, replace my front diff gears) since I axle swapped my TJ. I bought the axles several years ago, and the front diff has had gear howl the entire time. It was hard to bear on longer trips, like when I go hunting every year. The sound changed drastically a couple months ago, and I've been driving my WJ while I gathered parts.
I suspected that a bearing failed, and today I was able to get it in the local High School's shop for a week, and use their lift before students come back next month. (One of my buddies works at the school, and got permission from the shop teacher.)
It was definitely a bearing. The ring and pinion have no obvious flaws, but the bottom of the diff is full of metal glitter, and the gear oil was black.
I have Revolution 4.88 gears and master install kit, a Yukon Zip locker (to replace the factory Rubicon locker that was in the axle) and another master install kit from Yukon, and we'll as extra seals. All bearings are Timken and all seals are Spicer.
Tomorrow I'm going to pull the locker, the pinion, the seals, etc, and work on trying to get a initial pattern run. I've watched @hosejockey61 videos on this, and am basically starting this thread so that @hosejockey61 and @Blackjack can critique my work and help me get it dialed in. I'll be posting patterns over the next several days and hopefully getting it all correct by the end!
I've bought a ton of tools (bearing pullers, seal installers, seal press, in/lb dial indicator, etc) so I'm pretty sure I have everything to be successful! Wish me luck, and stay tuned, hopefully the resident experts dont get too fed up with me in this thread!
I've been wanting to do a regear (or more accurately, replace my front diff gears) since I axle swapped my TJ. I bought the axles several years ago, and the front diff has had gear howl the entire time. It was hard to bear on longer trips, like when I go hunting every year. The sound changed drastically a couple months ago, and I've been driving my WJ while I gathered parts.
I suspected that a bearing failed, and today I was able to get it in the local High School's shop for a week, and use their lift before students come back next month. (One of my buddies works at the school, and got permission from the shop teacher.)
It was definitely a bearing. The ring and pinion have no obvious flaws, but the bottom of the diff is full of metal glitter, and the gear oil was black.
I have Revolution 4.88 gears and master install kit, a Yukon Zip locker (to replace the factory Rubicon locker that was in the axle) and another master install kit from Yukon, and we'll as extra seals. All bearings are Timken and all seals are Spicer.
Tomorrow I'm going to pull the locker, the pinion, the seals, etc, and work on trying to get a initial pattern run. I've watched @hosejockey61 videos on this, and am basically starting this thread so that @hosejockey61 and @Blackjack can critique my work and help me get it dialed in. I'll be posting patterns over the next several days and hopefully getting it all correct by the end!
I've bought a ton of tools (bearing pullers, seal installers, seal press, in/lb dial indicator, etc) so I'm pretty sure I have everything to be successful! Wish me luck, and stay tuned, hopefully the resident experts dont get too fed up with me in this thread!
I'll be out on a trail today and not home until the evening, so be patient. Some others in here can set you in the right direction as well.
